Restenosis, or the re-narrowing of a blood vessel, is not an uncommon occurrence following the treatment of an initial vascular occlusion, and may lead to restricted blood flow within the blood vessel. Known techniques for inhibiting the formation of vascular occlusions include the delivery of anti-restenotic agents, and typically involve the placement of an implanted device within the lumen of a blood vessel to do so. For example, a stent, or other such structure, may be coated with the anti-restenotic agent, and implanted within the lumen of the vessel such that the anti-restenotic agent is eluted into the tissue comprising the wall of the vessel over time. Such techniques and structures, however, typically deliver the anti-restenotic agent to the intimal layer of the vessel wall along the entire periphery of the vessel wall, and are limited in their efficacy due to the nature of the tissue comprising the intimal layer.
Consequently, there remains a need for devices, systems, and methodologies that facilitate directional, targeted delivery of an anti-restenotic agent in a more efficacious manner.